EPA wants to punish developer

COEUR d’ALENE – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a $99,000 fine against a subdivision developer accused of burying a stream bed in Harrison.

It also calls for fines against 14 Boise-area contractors for storm water management violations at their building sites.

The EPA inspected the Harrison site after hearing from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that a contractor buried the bed of an intermittent stream while widening a culvert crossing from the site to Highway 97.

Developer Harrison Heights and contractor Iron Triangle, both from John Day, Ore., have 30 days to file an answer to the complaint and may request a formal settlement conference.

“This kind of violation is unacceptable,” said Kim Ogle, EPA water quality enforcement manager. “The law requires that a permit be obtained and that a plan be written and followed to prevent soil, debris and contaminated water from polluting our streams, lakes and rivers.”

The subdivision would have up to 137 homes on 40 acres annexed into Harrison.

City officials still want to see the project continue.

“The city has always supported it,” Harrison Mayor Ron Jean Blanc said. “We wouldn’t have annexed it if we didn’t want it to go forward.”

A spokeswoman for Iron Triangle on Tuesday said the company is negotiating with the EPA.

“We’ve met with them and proposed a response,” she said. “It’s not even our fine.”

Harrison Heights developers were unavailable for immediate comment.

The EPA also proposes fines ranging from $500 to $13,000 for water quality violations at 12 Boise construction sites, affecting 14 contractors. All the sites were less than 50 acres.

The agency said it is enforcing the rules after spending three years alerting those contractors about managing runoff.